Automatic volume control



July 19, 1960 F. J. MURPHREE, JR` 2,946,017

AUTOMATIC VOLUME CONTROL Filed Dec. 28, 1956 fiA/a/ J NMPP/Muff, c/f?.

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS United States Patent 0 2,946,011 AUTOMATIC -voL-UME coranto;J

Francis J. Murphree, Jr.,'Panamal City, Fla., assigner to the United States of America Aas represented by the Secretary -of 4thehNavy v Filed Dec. 28, 1956,'Ser.vNo. 631,378

2 Claims. (Cl. 330.-,133

(Grantedunder Title 35, U.S. Code-.(1952), sec. 2.66)

"Ille `illvclltion .described .herein ,may :be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

The present invention relates to automatic volume control systems for electrical vamplifying apparatus and has for its principal object the provision of such systems which minimize the period of overload following the application of a sudden strong signal and rwhich have a relatively long time constant for Weak signals.

Heretofore, automatic-volume-control (AVC) circuits have been devised which recover quickly from an overload and also recover rapidly after the removal of a signal but the performance of these two functions has been obtained by employing a short time constant which also brought about the suppression of weak signals. Thus, by making the resistance-capacitance product low enough in the AVC rectifier circuit, fast recovery of gain after cessation of a signal could be obtained, but signals might be depressed excessively. In some lapplications such as, for example, sonar echo-ranging Ia receiver incorporating a conventional AVC circuit recovers so slowly after strong interference, Le., a burst of noise or reverberation, echoes from nontargets, etc., that weak target echoes following immediately thereafter may be lost, or such a receiver may overload upon a sudden increase in interference and not regain control soon enough to detect the subsequent echoes. Contrariwise, if the time constant is decreased in order to minimize these effects,

echoes may be lost -because the gain is depressed too quickly.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of theV present invention a non-linear resistance shunted by a diode cooperates with 'a capacitance -to provide the RC network of an AVC rectifier circuit the arrangement being such that during a charging cycle the negative voltageresistance characteristic present makes the time constant of the network -a function of the instantaneous applied voltage, the high back resistance of the diode having very little elect. l

The invention itself, as well as other objects and advantages, will be understood from the following description of the accompanying drawing the single ligure of which is a diagrammatic showing of lan exemplary amplifying system incorporating the preferred embodiment of the invention.

The amplifying system illustrated for the purpose of describing the invention is a conventional one for amplifying a radio frequency signal appearing on its input lead 10. Signals on the input 10 are fed through an Aamplifier 11 having at least one controlled stage 12 hav- 'in-g a grid `13, a frequency converter 114, an intermediate frequency amplifier 15 having at least one controlled stage 16, a manual volume selecting control 17, and a power amplier 18 to lan output terminal 19. A control signal taken .from the output of the last controlled stage in the amplifier "15 on a lead 21 is passed through an AVC amplifier 22 to a transformer 23, the output of f" 2,946,017 ce Patented: ugly da, S,raso

whichgis rectiliedbytwosuitabletubes f2.4. :'l'r'herecticr .lis preferably provided :with a suitable constant, delay ,fbias 425-as`isewellllmown.

The rectied output of-'the .tubes 2,4 .is :fed through :the gain-control system:y of the invention and a lead :26 :t0 the grids of the controlled :amplifier stages 1 2 :and vThis gain-control isystem :comprises la condenser :30 for filtering-the A:full 1Wave rectified output A.of ftheftubes G24., ,an ERC :network -consisting'rof a :resistor Bland :a capaciftor. 32, a.dicde1f33 shunting `the resistor-.31, `andaiblcedcr resistor 34 Ashiuttirlg --the condenser ,30. :the.,.di ode 53 .is gaghigh vacuum type vit aisgpreferred to shunt theresistor Y3,1 `:with ga' resistor 135 'ghaving ,a resistance V:value otra ffew fmegchms. The resistor ..31 tis ,nenlinsair having a .ncsa- ;tive -voltagcresistancc characteristic ,so that when ithc voltage across it is relatively great its resistance is low and the capacitor 32 is charged more rapidly and hence the time constant of the combination of the resistor 31 and the capacitor 32 is a kfunction of the instantaneous applied voltage. With commercially available nonlinear resistors it is not diflicult to obtain initial time constants that change by a ratio of at least one hundred to one for a voltage change of ten to one. This, of course, means that control of an instantaneous overload is acquired more rapidly than it would be if the resistor 3d were linear. After overload the time constant returns to a value suiliciently high to prevent the loss of weak signals.

The resistor 34 in addition to serving as a bleeder for the condenser 30 also completes the return path to ground for the diode 33. The diode 33 shunting the nonlinear resistor 3d and the resistor 35 is so arranged that during the charging cycle of the gain-control circuit its high back resistance has a elfect on the time constant `of the circuit whereas when the capacitor 32 begins to discharge the resistors 31 and 35 are essentially shorted and the time constant is largely determined bythe capacitor 3l2 and the resistor 34. By choosing suitably small values for Ithe resistor 34 and the input condenser 30 the time constant can be made quite short, i.e.,jas short as live milliseconds without any apparent ill effects.

"Since the resistor 31 is nonlinear the effectivetime constant of the circuit is much shorter for very strong signals than it is for weak signals. lt is thus easy to design a circuit having a time constant lsuch that rel-atively weak signals are suppressed very little but that strong pulses or continuous signals are rapidly depressed.l

Nothing is lost by partially depressing strong pulses since their initial amplitude makes them apparent.

By properly manipulating the values chosen lfor the capacitor 32 and the resistors 311 and 34 it yis easy to design the circuit to provide the three desired features,

viz., fast recovery from overload, fast gain recovery, and

slow attack time for weak signals. For example, with a particular nonlinear resistor 31 of thyrite whose resistance varies [from about sixty megohms at six volts `to about one hundred thousand ohms .at sixty volts the fol lowing values for the other components provide a satisfactory gain-control circuit:

Capacitor 30 m-fd-- .01 Capacitor 32 mid 1.0 Resistor 34 ohms- 47,00()

What is claimed is:

r1. An amplifier of variable gain having input and output stages and a volume control circuit, said volume control circuit comprising a rectifier connected to an output stage of the amplifier to provide a detected voltage corresponding to the signal level in said output stage, a capacitor connected to -be charged by the detected voltage, a nonlinear resistor having -a negative voltageresistance characteristic connected in series only with the charging path of the capacitor, means coupling the capacitor to at least one input stage of the amplifier' to provide .variations in the gain of said-amplifier in response to variations in the voltage across said capacitor, and a discharge path for the capacitor including a diode connected in shunt to the nonlinear resistor.

2. `In a variable gain amplifier having an automatic volume control circuit which provides a detected voltage proportional to the amplified carrier voltage, at leastone amplier stage connected to have its gain controlled in accordance with the detected voltage, and a resistancecapacitance ilter section connected between said control circuit and said controlled stage for delaying the application of the detected voltage to said controlled stage, characterized by the resistance component of said filter section having a nonlinear negative voltage-resistance characteristic and by `the capacitance component of said filter section constituting the sole circuit for current flowing through said resistance component.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,093,095 Peterson Sept. 14, 1937 2,137,401 Hobbie Nov. 22, 1938 2,189,925 Reinken Feb. 13, 1940 2,221,541 Hathaway Nov. 12, 1940 2,399,968 Whitelock May 7, 1946 2,532,347 Stodola Dec. 5, 1950 

